Made in Dakar, Orchestra Boabab's first album of new recordings since 2002, was released last week. Billboard says the collection of new songs and new takes on classic Baobab tunes proves to be "a great retrospective" on the band with "no shortage of stylistic turns." The review calls it "a major thrill" to have the chance to rediscover some of the many hard-to-find classics, "retracked in grand fashion" for the new album.

Earlier this year, Steve Reich joined Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore for a discussion of the composer's career at the annual South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas. Pitchfork Media's new video site, pitchfork.tv, recorded the event back in March and has now posted it as a two-part special presentation you can watch here. Moore opens the interview by claiming the pioneering minimalist composer as one of his own, declaring: "Whether he knows it or not, he's kind of a rock 'n' roller." Moore says that the 1971 piece Drumming was his introduction to Reich's music.

Steve Reich selected Japanese composer Yuichi Matsumoto as the first-prize winner in this year's Toru Takemitsu Composition Award this past Sunday. It was the culminating event in Composium 2008, a several day affair at Tokyo Opera City featuring works by Reich, including the Japanese premiere of Daniel Variations and a performance of Music for 18 Musicians with the composer as guest artist.

Tune in to the Sundance Channel tonight at 9 PM to catch David Byrne on the latest episode of the show Big Ideas for a Small Planet, titled "Transport." Byrne, a longtime advocate of urban bike use, will be part of a segment focusing on efforts to make cities more bike friendly. There's also word on his collaboration with Dirty Projectors for the forthcoming edition of the Red Hot compilation album to benefit AIDS research. Also on the album are Feist, Sufjan Stevens, Grizzly Bear, Sharon Jones, The Decemberists, and The National, whose Bryce Dessner is producing the collection.

The Black Keys' in-studio performance and interview on NPR's World Cafe last week is now available online. "With their newest record, Attack & Release," says the show, "the two-man band of Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney has created a spot-on mix of blues and rock ... The resulting collection takes their minimalist sound into a new dimension with unexpected arrangements and expanded instrumentation."

"It's a rich time for Burnett fans," says the Rocky Mountain News, "with new music and new projects among the best work he's done." In its review of T Bone Burnett's Nonesuch debut, Tooth of Crime, it gives the album an A-, calling it "a strong set of songs. Burnett has been at the forefront of reimagining the recording process in the age of digitized sound. He recently made mention of it in an interview with Bob Boilen on NPR's All Songs Considered. As he explains it to Rolling Stone: "We've been fighting the limitations of digital audio since it first came out ... [I]t's just got to the point where the Dude could not abide."

Fresh off a three-day swing in the Punch Brothers' Punch tour that brought the band to the first-ever Delfest on Sunday, celebrating the musical legacy of the legendary Del McCoury, Chris Thile is back in New York City to perform in The Unnamed Music and Comedy Show at the 13th Street Repertory theater. The show is written, directed, and hosted by New Yorker cartoonist Matthew Diffee and will feature live music from Chris, stand-up comedy from Roger Hailes, and some as-yet-undisclosed special extras.

Punch Brothers had a packed schedule over the long weekend: they performed at the first annual Delfest in Cumberland, Maryland, on Sunday; The Mauch Opera House in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, on Saturday; and The Birchmere in Alexandria, Virginia, on Friday. The Washington Post says The Blind Leaving the Blind, the centerpiece of the group's Nonesuch debut, Punch, was the "most adventurous number" of a live set "that packed a powerful ... well, punch." The AV Club calls it "a tour-de-force." 

k.d. lang has returned to Canada for several dates on her Watershed tour, including tonight's performance at Centennial Hall in London, Ontario. Across the Atlantic, in the elder London, k.d. was the subject of a feature profile in the Mail on Sunday this past weekend. She talks at length with the Mail's Liz Jones about life, love, religion, and her career. Jones prefaces the discussion by admitting: "I love the new album, Watershed, which is turning out to be her best performing album in the UK in a decade and, in fact, one of the best performers of her 25-year career."

"Can't Come Down," a track from Sam Phillips's upcoming album, Don't Do Anything, is featured today on NPR's All Songs Considered. Listen at npr.org.

Starting at 6pm on Friday, May 23, Harvard's radio station, WHRB, will be broadcasting 16 1/2 hours of Kronos Quartet's music during their "Spring Orgy Season." The program will feature albums from Kronos's Nonesuch discography, beginning with the 1986 release "Kronos Qaurtet," through 2002's "Nuevo." Tune in online at whrb.org.